Radiohead’s In Rainbows reviewed

Rating: 5 out of 5

The interesting discourse around the new Radiohead album isn't how good it is, but rather as guitarist Jonny Greenwood put it, how much it's worth.

Radiohead's seventh album came from out of nowhere, announced to us with a mere 10 days notice via an online message from Greenwood, and anyone who wants it can download it now from Inrainbows.com.

You determine what you want to pay, and if you want to pay nothing, well then it's free. I paid $10 for my copy, $1 per track, which is what the iTunes Store would have charged me, and am among 1.2 million people thus far who have chosen to get their Radiohead fix this way.

The British music newsletter Record of the Day polled 3,000 purchasers of the album and found people paid an average price of $8 for their copy, which suggests consumers, even the Internet savvy, are still willing to pay for good music.

Ironically, Radiohead will make greater profit this way, as all money goes directly to them. If they had chosen to release the album through iTunes, they would have seen around $1.50 per album, the rest going to their record company and iTunes. Never mind the quality of the record, that this delivery system has been a bona fide success in three short days could herald a change in the music industry itself.

Bruce Springsteen's Magic hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts the traditional way by selling just 335,000 copies in a week, just over a quarter of In Rainbows' three day tally. But I digress.

On with an album review. In Rainbows is very much the gloriously mournful Radiohead we've all come to love. Closer to the insular Kid A than the more radio-friendly Hail To The Thief, the tracks are typically dense and atmospheric, a hefty smog of electronica, sampling and hiccuping backbeats from which Thom Yorke's cherubic falsetto pierces through like pinpricks of light.

There are many highlights along the way. The lazy trip-hop of 15 Step sets the mood of these headphone symphonies right away, and the upbeat Bodysnatchers is maybe its most radio-friendly, but it's the third track, Nude, that is the first stunner. Starting out with a haunting orchestral score and a dash of reverb, this despondent ballad gets downright chilling once Yorke begins to coo.

The short Faust Arp is richly orchestrated, and Greenwood's gorgeous finger-plucking carries the latter half of the tune.

The album closes out nicely 42 minutes in with the piano-driven Videotape, which seems influenced by the minimalist electronic work of Boards of Canada. Ultimately, it's the ideal iPod album, one made for intimate listens walking down chilly streets on overcast days. But also consider this about In Rainbows.

Only Radiohead heard it before its Oct. 10 release. No record execs, no media, not this journalist. Because this is a band whose albums usually warrant multiple listens, you know I haven't had enough time to gauge it's true cultural worth, and when I finally will, this review will no longer be timely.

All I can say then is that for $10, I got one hell of an album and insight into the possible future of the music industry.

And that's great value.

* Photo by Jenelle Schneider.

Nick